Job ID: 80301

PhD or postdoctoral student – The neural basis of social communication

Position: Ph.D. Student

Deadline: 1 September 2022

Employment Start Date: 1 October 2022

Contract Length: 5 years

City: Haifa

Country: Israel

Institution: University of Haifa

Department: Neurobiology

Description:

Are you interested in joining our journey into the unknown?

In our new lab at the University of Haifa, we are using a multidisciplinary approach to dive into one of the most fascinating questions in neurobiology: how do brains give rise to social communication?

We are looking for curious and highly motivated team-players who would like to join us on our journey. Positions are available for postdocs and graduate students. Our projects use a mix of behavioral quantification, neural recordings (using two-photon microscopy and electrophysiology), circuit analysis (using electron microscopy), biological lab work, and computational modeling. We will build an honest, professional, and inclusive environment, where good science can thrive. People from different disciplines are encouraged to apply, including from biological and physical sciences, engineering, and computer sciences.

Since innate social behaviors are critical for survival, animals have evolved complex and hard-wired neural circuits to orchestrate their performance. Yet – the brain must also be flexible enough to allow adaptive decisions in changing environments. We aim to dissect mechanisms that underlie adaptive social communication over multiple timescales. Toward this goal, we will build models of how factors such as previous experience, internal motivational state, and immediate social context, shape dynamic social communication.

To reveal the mechanisms underlying complex social communication at the circuit, cellular, and molecular levels, we need a model system with a rich behavioral repertoire, a tractable nervous system and a wide range of tools for monitoring and manipulating specific cells and molecular pathways. Therefore, we choose the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model system.

Please find more details about our lab and open positions in: https://deutschlab.haifa.ac.il/

The University of Haifa has a diverse community of PhD students and postdoctoral scholars from all around the world. Successful candidates will be eligible to apply for: on-campus housing, excellence fellowship, airfare support (for internationals), family assistance, visa and medical insurance. Support to attend international conferences in a related field will also be offered and students/postdocs will be encouraged to present their work. 

If you are interested in joining us for any of the open positions, please send your CV and a short statement (one-page) to ddeutsch1@univ.Haifa.ac.il.

The statement should briefly describe research interests, and why you would like to join our lab.